Are you sure you have the right boot?

Question:

Perhaps you can help me find a shift boot for a 1968 Chevy 1⁄2-ton C20 pickup with a 327 engine and four on the floor. The truck is in restoration now and the shift boot is torn and needs to be replaced.

I have tried LMC Truck, but the one they sent doesn’t fit. No other sources have shift boots for this truck.

If I cannot locate one is there a way to repair the rubber? I have made a substitute boot out of boat vinyl. It looks OK but it is not original.

Answer:

LMC Truck (lmctruck.com) appears to be the only source for a shift boot for your truck.

Are you certain that you ordered the correct boot and, if you did, are you sure that they sent you a correct boot?

Trucks equipped with a V-8 used a different boot than those with a six-cylinder engine and two-wheel-drive trucks used one boot while four-wheel-drive trucks used another.

If they really don’t have the correct boot for your truck then I don’t have a good solution for you. There is no feasible way to repair your torn boot so that the repair is invisible.

You could possibly glue a piece of rubber on the inside of the boot to bridge the tear but the repair will be obvious.

You might be able to use a boot from a different application if it is close enough in size and shape to your original boot. However, it is going to take a good deal of legwork to find other boots and compare them to yours.